The Times of Tuesday publishes from its special corre- spondent
in Persia a gloomy account of the decline of British trade, particularly at Bushire. The decline, which is due to brigandage and smuggling, promises to become even worse. In 1907-8 British trade at Bushire exceeded £1,500,000; in 1908-9 it fell to £1,200,000; and in 1909-10 it is likely to be as low as £750,000. Brigandage is carried on with an audacity unknown in the worst days of absolutism. The correspondent said that for some weeks before he wrote not a single pack animal had entered Bushire. This means that the carrying trade with the interior is paralysed. The smuggling is chiefly in tea. As about half the tea brought into Persia pays no duty, British tea, which pays about 100 per cent., cannot compete with that of the organised smuggling trade. The difficulties of the Constitutional Government at Teheran are of course serious, but the reformers are on their trial, and, as the Vice-Consul at Bushire said in his last Report, the least they should do to save their credit is to appoint a firm and competent Governor- General of Fars.
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